The trick to keeping kids in their beds
Keeping kids in their beds! Heading into summer, with longer daylight hours, my kids seem to sleep less and less. Regardless of blackout shades their little eyes like to pop open far too early. And although I can’t force them to go back to sleep (don’t you wish that we could program them to sleep at certain times!!) this little trick keeps them in their beds – sometimes they fall back asleep, other times they don’t. But either way they’re not roaming the house before I get up! We’ve tried a number of things and this trick has worked wonders.
Buy an inexpensive alarm clock at Target – which may or may not have seem like Christmas for a young child.
Make little number tags out of a folded index card or cardstock for the times your child should get up from nap and in the morning and work on number recognition for those two numbers.
Before putting them to bed, put the number in front of the clock – so it covers up the minutes section and remind them they can only get out of bed when the number on the clock matches the number on the tag.
Depending on the age of your child this may take some time. For the first three weeks, my son was always getting out too early. I would walk him back to the room and take him to the clock and asked if his numbers matched. He would recognize the numbers weren’t the same and get back in bed (the first week there may have been tears when he got back in bed, but after that he was tear-free!).
After three weeks or so it finally clicked and we would hear him screaming with joy, “My numbers match, my numbers match.”
We’ve started to see a trend of sleeping in just a little bit more. No more 5 o’clock wakings because he wants to play with his toys. Not only does this keep him safe but it keeps the house quiet for the rest of the sleeping family.
Here are a couple tips:
Buy the most simple clock because they will inevitably want to play with the buttons and may even change the times on occasion. It may also help to put some batteries in the clock for the times they unplug it.
• Keep some books in the room for the times they wake up and need to pass time; try and eliminate the toys in the room so they stay in bed.
• Be consistent. Every time they walk out of the room when its too early, walk them back into the room and show them the clock.
• A reward chart works wonders. Keep track of all the times they stay in their room without help and reward them appropriately.
Happy sleeping!
The trick to keeping kids in their beds
See more of my adventures and projects at www.lifewithfingerprints.com
Now that your kids are sure to stay in bed, check out these tips for helping them to actually sleep better:
If you find bedtime is a battlefield, find out how to end the bedtime wars with these tips:
Nicole says
I love the car sheets – would you share your source? Thanks!
Kara says
The sheets are fun and my boy loves them! They’re from Pottery Barn Kids.
TwilightReader says
I had a little boy with Autism whose parents had bought him a clock with something that flipped from red to green when it was OK for him to get up. I have no idea where you’d get something like that, though. And sometimes I felt it was the difference between my finding the used ice cream scoop put back in the drawer and not, because we all know that that extra laying in bed time sometimes results in more sleep. That was usually his favorite thing to go after if he got up and no one was there to make sure he stayed out of it. His little sister would often hear him getting up and would join him in his early morning snacks because he was so willing to share the loot. Usually, Mommy was too busy getting ready for work to notice the mess they’d left behind in the drawer. She’d know what they’d been up to because of the bowls on the counter, though. And sometimes the stained countertops.
Reina says
We got one of those. It’s a little stoplight – totally cute! And a friend of ours has something similar with a little bug that changes colors when it’s time to get up. You can get both of them on Amazon. Unfortunately, our little guy is so determined that, after the first month or so, he decided he didn’t need to obey the stoplight any more. 🙁
Grandma Susie says
This may work with a good number of children because (in an odd way) it puts them in charge of the time they get up.
But that said, our daughter was a preemie ( born at 7 mos). She did not sleep through the night until age 6, as an infant she never slept more than 2-3 hours at a time and as she got older she woke at least once and would climb in bed with us. In infancy we attributed this to the commotion in the neo-natel ICU and her need for food. As she grew she was afraid when she woke up in the dark quiet house ( yes she had a night light) so she came in to us. We always took her back to her bed sometimes lying with her a few minutes.
Funny side note she loved going to bed! Would ask if it was bedtime, even nap time, yet. She’s now 38, a very well adjusted adult who still loves her sleep. Enjoy the extra cuddle time.
And mornings? My kids would come to my bed when they woke early, we would cuddle talk quietly and most often they fell back to sleep
Kayla says
Hi! We purchased this clock that changes colors when it reaches the time you set for “OK to wake”. It works great for our kids who don’t know numbers yet. It’s a bit of an investment at $20-30, but worth it to me!
Kayla says
http://m.target.com/p/ok-to-wake-alarm-clock-and-night-light/-/A-11852371?ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=11852371&ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&CPNG=PLA_Home%2BDecor%2BShopping&adgroup=SC_Home%2BDecor&LID=700000001170770pgs&network=g&device=m&location=9021527&gclid=CLCl8omYkMoCFQymaQodEPgKCg&gclsrc=aw.ds
Laura says
I’ve seen where others have purchased a cheap $5 wall clock and colored the face with red, yellow and green colors representing when the child should be sleeping, getting ready for bed/waking up and awake. They remove the minute hand and that way they can tell just by where the hour hand is at.
Narindar says
I have a nine months old who goes to bed at 9.p.m. and wakes up at 3 or 5 a.m.She will want us to get up and play with her for over 2 hrs and than have a hour nap .The whole day this girl will just sleep for 2 more hours.
I know it is not right but she do not sleep.Please advice me .All curtains down ,no noise ,music .Have done all and she is my second one.Her elder sister was not like that at all.HELP me and Her.Thanks
Kara Tomlinson says
This is magic. My autistic daughter nearly 13 still does not know the time but can match numbers like you do in a game of dominoes which she likes to play . I am hoping that this will help her learn the times. We also use it for when is dinner,going swimming ,school etc we put a picture above each clock .in time we will move one of them to a wall chart and slowly move all cards then decrease the amount of clocks. Long process but worth it. Ha yes they do play with the buttons because they must wonder how the clock works etc. Thank you for starting the time ready in our home. Things are now looking brighter and hopefully my daughter will learn the time.
Thank You ??????????
joy podjursky says
you should never have didgle clock in any ones bedrooms battery ok
joy podjursky says
you should never have didgle clock in any ones bedrooms battery ok definetly not me ok take it of i would not help
Rebecca says
“Teach me time” clock works well also. Turns from yellow to green when they are allowed to get up. Amazon sells it. Took me less than a week for my 2 year old to learn the new rules.
Casey says
We recently bought a new alarm clock and put our old one in our son’s room. He is always asking us what time it is! He doesn’t have much of a problem getting up too early; it’s going to sleep too late that is the issue. I don’t mind him playing quietly in his room or reading a book if he isn’t sleepy enough yet, but I wonder if a similar approach might help him learn when it’s time to crawl into bed.
kinderbett says
Thanks for this trick 🙂
Vanessa says
Thanks for sharing! It looks like the consistency and practice on this one pays off!
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
Los trabajos universitarios trabajosuniversitarioshechos.com/comprar-tfg/son una parte esencial de la vida académica, ya que brindan a los estudiantes la oportunidad de aplicar y ampliar sus conocimientos en áreas específicas. Aunque pueden ser desafiantes y requieren una considerable dedicación de tiempo y esfuerzo, los beneficios que ofrecen son invaluables. Estos trabajos permiten desarrollar habilidades fundamentales como la investigación, el pensamiento crítico y la redacción académica, que son cruciales tanto en el ámbito académico como en el profesional.
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
I didn’t have any expectations concerning that title, but the more I was astonished. The author did a great job. I spent a few minutes reading and checking the facts. Everything is very clear and understandable. I like posts that fill in your knowledge gaps. This one is of the sort.